


Legendary

by feudal



Category: Diabolik Lovers
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-25
Updated: 2014-01-25
Packaged: 2018-01-09 22:33:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1151601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/feudal/pseuds/feudal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shortly after the "Curse of Odessa" incident, Laito contemplates what love actually is.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Legendary

As much as Laito hated his uncle Richter, he had to admit there were times when the old man came in handy. Case in point: Richter's seldom-used summer mansion was just the place to carry out a secret rendezvous or three. Strictly speaking, he wasn't exactly  _allowed_  to use the mansion, but Laito always had been the type who preferred to ask for forgiveness (truly, sincerely, from the bottom of his heart!) rather than permission.

Sitting in the softly padded window sill, Laito would occasionally look up from his book to glance outside at the people bustling about in their village at the bottom of the hill. This was the perfect vantage point from which to scope out the goings-on of the mortals below, Laito had found. As for the book, it changed daily. Laito loathed endings and, in any case, lacked the attention span to even get halfway through any book. The years had shown Laito to be much more enthusiastic about starting things than finishing them.

"Ah!" Just then, his attention was caught by a head of chestnut-colored hair attached to a rather mousy-looking girl. She was far from being his usual type, but somehow that only made her all the more intriguing. "I wonder what sort of face she'll make when I sink my fangs into her..." Laito couldn't stop himself from licking his lips, his entire body quivering with anticipation.

The game was on.

Over the next several weeks, Laito courted her—Odessa, her name was—just as a predator might. He chose his every word and action carefully and deliberately, coaxing her towards him bit by bit. 

"Can I help you carry that?" he smiled, gesturing towards the books she carried in her arms, clutched tightly to her chest. Odessa adamantly shook her head and edged past him. Her posture revealed her to be very guarded, but the slight flush to her cheeks let Laito know that all was not lost.

Odessa came from a well-to-do family and her parents had sheltered her all her life in an attempt to keep her pure and ready for eventual marriage. When his more obvious shows of interest and attempts at physical contact proved to be too much stimulation for the girl, Laito drew back and appealed to her on an emotional level. She was soon telling him her entire life story.

"I've... I've never been able to tell anyone about this. I don't want to cause my parents any trouble, I just..." Her hair was plaited that day and she fiddled with the ends of her hair nervously. As always, she avoided direct eye contact.

"You just...can't live under their thumb forever. Heh. Don't worry, it's completely natural. You're a good girl, Odessa~"

Odessa resisted Laito valiantly at first, but curiosity and temptation got the best of her, untempered as they were by experience or knowledge of Laito's true nature.

"I love you," Laito whispered into Odessa's ear as he straddled her after finally luring her into his—or rather, Richter's—bed.

"I-I'm not sure about this... I...!"

"Is it because I'm a vampire? Do you...fear me?" He made his voice shake as if he would cry at any moment. Kanato's manipulative tactics were quite useful at times, Laito thought with some amusement.

"It's not that! I... About you... I..."

"Vampires live forever... After I turn you, we'll have eternal love. And I come from a rich family. Surely your parents won't mind releasing you to me~"

The promise of marriage was the last push Odessa needed to surrender herself completely.

10 across, 9 letters, "game-ending announcement":  _checkmate_.

By the next morning, Laito was back home and ready to deal with his troublesome brothers and even more troublesome mother once more.

"How was it?" Ayato asked by way of greeting, glancing up from his  _takoyaki_  for a moment as Laito strode into the living room.

"Diverting." Laito shrugged. He carelessly dropped his luggage onto the floor and one of his familiars quickly took it away. "All the girls were dead fish, though." Ayato rolled his eyes at his older brother's callousness and absently wondered how many more notches Laito had added to his bedpost this month.

By the time a week had gone by, Laito had completely forgotten about Odessa. Thousands of miles away, far more affected by their dalliance than he, Odessa was being disowned by her family and would die of exposure and starvation when winter set in and her supposed eternal lover never came for her.

"I love him... I hate him... I hate...vampires!! All vampires must pay...!!"

* * *

Laito's eyes flutter open.  _How long ago was that_ , he wonders. He might never have thought of her again, but a recent occurrence in the Sakamaki and Mukami households had made Odessa much more relevant. "So she hated me so much she cursed all vampires with her dying breath... Haha, it's kind of thrilling. I never thought I'd be the hero in a legend!" Laito chuckles to himself, not thinking for a moment that "hero" might be one of the least applicable words in this situation. "I suppose she's really gone now..."

After Odessa was determined to be the cause of the threatening letters and familiars' deaths, Reiji and Ruki combined their knowledge and were able to exorcise Odessa at last. Laito finds it a little pitiable that she's now far more interesting to him dead than she ever was alive. "Well, if I'd known she was capable of cursing me, maybe I would have played with her a little more~"

"Mm...? Laito-kun?"

"Ahh sorry, Bitch-chan~ Did I wake you?" Laito looks down amusedly at the girl stirring underneath the covers next to him.

She squints at him as if unsure if he's really there or not, then rubs her eyes tiredly. "No... But what were you talking about?"

"Heh, isn't there something more important than that?" Before she has a chance to ask, Laito pins both her wrists down onto the bed and rakes his fangs down her neck. Her back arches and she squirms uncomfortably, but she's a butterfly already caught in the spider's web. There's no escape from Laito's vice-like grip. He bites her neck just an inch or two below her ear and groans against her skin, feeling her throat vibrate as she moans with a deep pleasure that he knows she'd rather deny feeling. "You're so cute, Bitch-chan~ Cry for me more, won't you...? There's no need to hold back!"

"Laito...kun...!"

He fully expects her to pass out afterwards when he rolls off of her, but she attentively studies his face instead. "What is it, Bitch-chan?"

"Hmm... Somehow it seems like there's more wrinkles on your face today. Especially between your eyebrows. Are you stressed about something?"

"Wrinkles? Haha, no way! Vampires don't exactly age, you know? Not unless we want to." Laito dismisses her concerned voice with a wave of his hand.

"Still... You're being a bit weird today. Well... More than usual."

"Weird how?"

"I don't know how to explain it, really, but you're kind of...lacking in energy somehow?"

"Haha, energy? I've still got plenty! Heh... Does that mean you want me to suck your blood more? That wasn't enough just now?"

She flails her arms wildly in protest. "N-no!! That's not it, I just... I'm a little worried about you, that's all. ...If I'm just making a big deal out of nothing, though, I'm sorry."

".........Bitch-chan."

"Hmm?"

"Do you love me?"

Her face flushes red as she bolts upright. A moment later, she realizes that she lost her bra in their previous scuffle and gathers up the blankets to cover herself. "Wh-what kind of question is that!?"

"A simple yes or no, Bitch-chan. Heh." Laito winks. She turns her head to avert her gaze, feeling burdened by his brilliant wolf-in-sheep's-clothing smile.

"I... I don't know. It's not that simple at all..."

"Then do you hate me? Do you hate me enough to put a curse on me?"

"No! Of course not!" She looks offended that he'd even have to ask. Laito knows that, of course, but being facetious is in his nature. "Wait, are you thinking about Od—"

"Well I doubt Bitch-chan would hate anyone, after all. You're such a little goody two-shoes. Even after allllll the things I've done to you," he gently traces his index finger down her spine and delights in her little shudder of pleasure, "you're still as dumb and trusting as always."

"D-dumb!? That's not nice, Laito-kun!"

"Am I ever?"

"........."

"Heeeey, you don't have to think so seriously about that! You'll hurt my feelings, you know~?"

She rests her chin in her palm thoughtfully. "No, it's just that you bring up a good point, Laito-kun. I mean, you're always bullying me!"

Laito wraps an arm around her waist. "Can you really call it bullying when you clearly enjoy it so much~?"

"I don't—!!"

She inhales a sharp breath, wincing as his fangs sink into the soft flesh just above her collarbones. As usual, her blood is ambrosial; he laps it up hungrily, greedily. "I can see through all of your lies, Bitch-chan~"

"I honestly...wish...you'd treat me more nicely...!" she manages between gasps.

"Haha don't make such unreasonable demands, Bitch-chan. That's no fun at all~"

She sighs and gives in at last, lacing her fingers into his hair as is her habit. After knowing Laito for this long, she knows well that there's no point in resisting. His seemingly easy-going exterior contrasts his selectively stubborn true character within.

"Hey, Bitch-chan."

"Hmm?"

"Won't you come to hate me?"

"...Why...? I won't do such a thing."

It was Cordelia who taught Laito the meaning of the word "love". It's a convenient word and a well-placed "I love you" is more useful than any other form of entreaty when it comes to getting a girl to do as he wants. Despite how many times Ayato or the many girls that Laito beds try to convince him that there's more to "love" than what Cordelia taught him, Laito just can't understand it. As part of a phrase or a single word, "love" is useful to him. As a concept...he finds it troublesome and—though he'd never admit it—a little bit frightening.

He's learned from experience that "hate", despite being much less useful, is more long-lasting. Hatred is so powerful that it can follow someone long after you're dead and gone. Laito wonders if it was love or hatred of Karlheinz that bound his mother's soul to this earth for so long.  _If she really did stick around just to kill him out of love... Hah. It's a little impressive._  

"Well... No matter what, I won't come to feel the same for you, Bitch-chan~ So don't you worry." Laito cuts off her confused response with another bite, depriving her of conscious thoughts of anything other than pleasure.

After all, love and hate are emotions too strong to be felt for a toy.

* * *

**AFTERWARD.**

This is a little story from a long time after that.

"Laito-kun, there aren't any more umm  _legends_  about you, are there?"

Laito looks up quizzically from his crossword puzzle. "Where did this come from, all of a sudden?"

"No, the question just popped into my head... It seems just like you to leave a trail of bitter broken hearts behind you, that's all."

"Really? Ahaha, are you sure it isn't just that you want to be part of a new legend yourself?"

"N-no thank you!!"

"You don't have to be shy, Bitch-chan~"

She frowns. "I'm not... It's just..."

"Hmm?" Laito's taken aback by how serious she looks; he senses that there's more to her worries than simply legends and his Odessas past.

"The fact that it's a legend means that you're not together anymore... If you really kept your word with Odessa, you would have married her and we wouldn't be here spending time together like this."

"...Ah, I see what you're getting at." A sardonic smile floats onto Laito's face.

"Sorry to be such a downer..."

"Well... How about this, Bitch-chan? I promise that for the rest of your life, you won't hear any new legends about me."

"What do you mean by—" She freezes mid-sentence and flushes deep red as she understands the implications of what he's said. In a single fluid movement, Laito appears at her side, pulling her close to him in a show of warmth he wouldn't have thought himself capable of a year or two ago.

Laito strokes her soft hair and chuckles into the crook of her neck. "I hope you're prepared to entertain me for as long as you live, Bitch-chan~"

The legend that belongs solely to the two of them has only just started.


End file.
